Beach or sun hat



Jam. 17, 1950 M. WEISS BEACH OR SUN HAT Filed Jan. 24, 1947 INVENTOR.

Wmss

MANFRED Patented Jan. 17, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BEACH R SUN HAT Manfred Weiss, New York, N. Y.

Application January 24, 1947, Serial No. '7 24,146

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in beach or sun hats.

According to the invention, there is provided a beach or sun hat particularly intended for use by women while on the beach or otherwise in strong sunlight, which is of large uniplanar expanse and of exceedingly attractive appearance while being worn, and yet which is easily and quickly collapsible into a bag-form and easilycarried assembly of a facewise area approximately not more than one quarter the area of the hat when expanded for use, thus making it easier to pack.

A feature of the invention is that when the hat is collapsed, not only is a diminution of size obtained to the extent just stated, but actually a bag is provided capacitated safely to carry therein miscellaneous small articles such as handkerchiefs and the like, and also a bag having a convenient handle.

Another feature of the invention is that such handle, desirably in the form of a freely flexible elongate band of textile material, may serve, when the hat is expanded and worn, to provide a strap for engaging the head of the wearer, as under the chin or at the back of the head, for assisting in arranging the hat as desired on the wearer and also for holding the wide expanse of the hat firm against the thrust of a sudden wind gust. Especially where the hat is to be used by women, a crown portion may be wholly omitted; which not only further reduces the cost of making the hat but, when the hat is rearranged for bag collapse as above, the hat in its collapsed condition is without extra thickness or bulk resulting from a collapsed crown portion.

According to the invention, a sun or beach hat having the advantages, noted may be provided at 'elatively small cost; since, while a resilient means is incorporated in the hat to permit bag-form collapse thereof, and also for snapping the hat to full expansion on disestablishing the bag, the resilient means employed is in the form of a single elongate endless resilient member; that is, a resilient means is used which is not made up of a plurality of separate members connected with each other by pivots or other means for allowing articulation between the parts or swinging of one part relative to another.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects and advantages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and accompanying drawing, and tothe appended claim in which the various novel features of the invention are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawing forming a material part of this disclosure:

Fig. l is a bottom plan view of a beach or sun hat pursuant to the invention. "Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail, being partially a section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1 and partially a fragmentary perspective partly broken away and partly in section.

Fig. 3 in full lines shows the hat in top plan, also, in broken lines, shows the resilient member thereof in a temporary abnormal disposition to which it is forced by grasp, with both hands applied as illustrated in dot and dash lines.

Fig. 4 is a view showing the hat as seen in Fig. 3, but now, after the hat has been manually forced further toward collapse, which with the hands shifted to new location to facilitate th next step toward collapse.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the hat as still further rearranged for collapse into the side walls of a hand bag; and, in order to clarify the drawing, the hands of the person collapsing the hat not being shown-such hands, however, being still positioned as in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 shows the hat transformed into a hand bag.

Referring to the drawing more in detail and now particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, the new hat is of very simple construction, comprising merely an endless highly flexible elongate member ID, as one'of very springy metal of any desired cross section connected together at its ends. As shown in Fig. 2 said strip is preferably a cut off length of spring metal stock of tape or strip type, and with its two ends Hi and la mutually overlapped and non-rockably connected by a plurality of rivets II or the like.

The main body of the hat is a piece l2 of suitable fabric, preferably a naturally limp one; this fabric piece being preferably of rectangular outline, in which case it would be of a length substantially equal to the circumference of the member if! as distended to perfect circular outline due to its own inherent high degree of elastic flexibility, and of a width equal substantially to the radial distance which separates the central opening Id and the outer periphery of the hat when the latter is expanded. In cutting the piece of fabric l2, of course, proper allowance will be made for all seams.

Among the seams provided is a seam 15 to surround the opening M, stitched into gathered form as shown, and a seam It for housing the resilient member ID. The preferred size of the seam I is most clearly shown in Fig. 3 and there also is shown the stitching I! for laying down the seam [6. When the piece of fabric is of rectangular shape as just mentioned, the ends thereof are coupled by stitching and by way of an interfolded seam l 9, as seen in Figs. 1 and 3.

A tape-like strap 20, of a length to be comfortably fitted under the chin when the hat is placed with the opening M on the top of the head, is suitably secured at opposite ends, as by stitching, to diametrically opposite points on the hat at or near the seam [6.

When expanded, the hat is of wide area all around the head of the wearer, of perfectly circular outline, and with the fabric piece l2 stretched very tight in all directions radially of the hat despite rufiling running outward from the seam l5, all due to the strong elastic action of the member ID.

To collapse the hat into a substantially fiat bag of a facewise spread approximately not greater than one quarter the spread of the hat when expanded for use, a quick and easy sequence of manipulations, as shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, is all that is required to establish a bag as shown in Fig. 6; in which connection it should be explained that the bag is illustrated on a somewhat enlarged scale as compared to all the other views except Fig. 2.

The first of the manipulations, with the expanded hat held upright but now with the strap 20 at the far side of the hat, is to grasp the opposite sides of the hat with the two hands, first catching in the palm of each hand one of the two horizontally opposite portions of the seam l6 and consequently one of the two similar opposite portions of the member H] in said seam, and then bringing the palms of the hands toward each other so that the outstretched fingers can catch hold of the horizontally opposite portions of the seam l5. Then, after the fingers are curled forward and over the seam I5 and so toward the thumbs of both hands as said thumbs lie upon the fabric piece I2 between the person collapsing the hat and the hat itself, the hands become disposed as shown in dot and dash lines in Fig. 3, with the member l0 elastically distorted into substantially the outline of a figure 8, as indicated in broken lines at It).

The next to be performed manipulation is for further collapsing the hat horizontally, to the condition shown in Fig. 4; thus allowing the left hand, by a quick opening and closing of the fingers of that hand, to arrange said hand to grip the hat where now fully collapsed about the opening M, as shown in full lines in Fig. 4. Just before the left hand grips the hat as last described, that hand was slid slightly upward to about the level of the top of the Opening I4, said upward shift of the left hand serving to transfer that hands grip to a part of the hat such that now temporarily the left hand engages the hat to make the pear-shaped segment l2 of the hat above this hand grip location somewhat smaller than the pear-shaped segment [2" of the hat below said hand grip location.

This temporary position of the left hand allows that hand to hold the upper portion of the partially collapsed hat against undesired twist during performance of the next manipulation.

Said next manipulation is performed while the left hand is arranged as last described, and with the right hand now shifted to the position shown at the bottom of Fig. 4; and while the left hand holds the aforesaid upper segment 12' of the hat, the lower segment l2" thereof is given a quick compound swing by the right hand; that is, first, a swinging about a vertical axis in the direction of the arrow A, thus giving a fractional twist to the portions of the member ID below the grip of the left hand, and, when this fractional twist is completed, the twist force being imparted to the aforesaid lower segment I2" of the hat by the right hand is transformed into one in the direction of the arrow B.

The condition of the parts of the beginning of the last mentioned twist is indicated in Fig. 5, where the arrow B is also shown.

Near the conclusion of the last mentioned swing, the face of the lower segment l2" seen in Fig. 5 is fiatwisely approached toward the face of the upper segment [2' seen in Fig. 5, these faces being the opposite faces of the fabric piece [2; and said two faces snap naturally into facewise contact, by resilient action of the member Ill to free itself from the distortion against its inherent elasticity to which said member was just before being subjected.

Coincidentally with said fabric faces thus snapping together, both'hands shift to the opposite sides of the parts of the hat now arranged to establish the two sides of the bag finally to be made, and at the same time the grip of the hands is relaxed sufliciently to permit the parts to yield to a now naturally occurring tendency of the portions of the member ID to shift relatively; the ultimate result being that as the subdivision of the member Ill previously at the bottom of the aforesaid lower segment l2" of Fig. 5 arrives in the plane of the upper segment of the hat, said subdivision comes to rest at the location shown at ID" in Fig. 5.

In Fig. 6, the completed bag is shown as having a curvilinear bottom closed by interlock of the parts.

This interlock is quickly and easily effected by applying a slight downpull to that portion 10" of the member ID which, with the parts as in Fig. 5, runs around the top of the upper segment l2 there shown, thus to reverse the relative elevations (in terms of the locations of the parts in Fig. 5) of the last mentioned portion of member l0 and the portion thereof indicated at I0".

Immediately on the occurrence of this manipulation, the portion of the fabric piece I2 marginally subtended by the former of the two lastmentioned portions IO' of the member Ill becomes arranged as shown at 12 in Fig. 6, and said fabric portion l2 now remains stressed so as to pocket said portion l0" of member [I] shown in Fig. 5. In Fig. 6, that portion of the seam I6 within which is the said portion ID of the member ID appears in broken lines because it is now hidden within the bag-formed-collapsed parts of the hat.

Finally the strap 20 is drawn up through the opening l4 and thus the collapsed hat, now converted to a small bag, may be carried by said strap as a handle, directly, or for easy deposit into and withdrawal from a beach bag.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the precise construction herein disclosed and the right is reserved to all changes and modifications coming within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I MANFRED WEISS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number Name Date Armstrong Feb. 13, 1934 Stafi Mar. 3, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Aug. 21, 1935 France Sept. 24, 1935 

